There is ethical debate over whether fetal calves suffer when their dam is slaughtered and fetal blood extracted by cardiac puncture for fetal bovine serum (FBS) production. Yet, the serum industry does not follow best practice, as recommended by the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA), to avoid fetal distress. We discuss the key elements of this debate, and recommend how the serum industry can alter its practices to improve animal welfare.

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Many receptor tyrosine kinases and seven-transmembrane receptors are directly coupled or coupled via G proteins, respectively, to the activation of phosphoinositidase Cs. These enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to produce the second messengers, myo-inositol(1,4,5)trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P(3)] and diacylglycerol. Ins(1,4,5)P(3) interacts with a specific receptor that is a ligand-gated channel that allows mobilization of non-mitochondrial intracellular calcium (Ca(2+)) stores. Because Ins(1,4,5)P(3) is plasma membrane impermeant, this phenomenon was first demonstrated in permeabilized pancreatic acinar cells, and all subsequent studies in cells have involved introduction of Ins(1,4,5)P(3) by rendering a cell population permeable (3), using microinjection techniques, or by the presentation of chemically modified membrane-permeable Ins(1,4,5)P(3) analogs, such as photolabile "caged Ins(1,4,5)P(3)". An alternative approach involves disruption of the plasma membrane and preparation of microsomes from the intracellular vesicular Ca(2+) stores; however, microsomal preparations exhibit a loss of Ins(1,4,5)P(3) responsiveness compared to permeabilized and intact cells.